Tomoko Ogawa Raises the Bar for Women Climbers

Oct 24, 2012

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If Japanese climber Tomoko Ogawa looks like she's been practicing the problem in the video above for years, it's because, well, she has. Ogawa, 34, starting working Catharsis, a V14 in Shiobara, Japan, three years ago. At the time, no woman had ever climbed a boulder problem harder than V12. Angie Payne hadn't touched The Automator, and Ashima Shiraishi, who made news this year when she climbed V13 at 10 years old, was still unknown.

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